veggies are in, Finally!

I made it to the Richmond nursery for some shopping. I was only going to buy a few veggie plants, but I came back with a bunch of flowers for the front yard as well. I couldnt help myself, that place is dangerous!
It was a typical stormy spring day today, so not the nicest day to be outside in, but pretty good for planting as it was wet. I put on my old winter coat and A's splash pants and rain boots and started. I weeded and planted our vegetable garden containers. Finally! I have been wanting to do so for weeks but something always seemed to pop up. Little by little we will get our yard organised!
So, in our veggie garden we now have, A1: garlic, green onions and carrots (mostly came back from last year) across the path (A2) we have curly leaf lettuce, spinach, arugula, bistro salad, and romain lettuce. Most of these are grown from seed from last years plants, Bonus! I repositioned some in the bed so they are more lined up, and I planted some more spinach seeds. In B1 we are growing 3 green and 3 red pepper plants. B2 has 3 bush bean plants and a jalapeno pepper plant. I have never tried bush beans and am curious to see what they will be like. C1 has cherry, beef steak and a fantastic tomatoe plant, as well as kentucky and scarlet runner green beans, and C2 has a Bonny Best and a Bushy early girl tomatoe plant, a cucumber plant, peas and green beans.
In the patch next to the rhubarb plant I planted 3 fantastic tomatoe plants.
I would like to plant potatoes, and maybe zuchnini or squash in the flower bed at the bottom of the veggie garden, but it would mean ripping a lot of plants out, and i havent decided yet if it will be worth the effors seen as though there is soooo much work to be done still.
The only thing I have done in the front yard so far is reposition the black eyed susan. I kept it in the same flower bed, but I moved it in between the blue mountain huet and the peonie (which by the way seems to be doing well for the first time since it was replanted next to the little tree). I bought a taller variety of black eyed susan and put it in the old spot of the other, in the hope it will look better than the other did. I will let you know how the other planting goes.

Veggies here we come!

I went to the market on wednesday and purchased a whole bunch of veggie plants to put in our vegetable garden boxes. It is all just so exciting. It is unbelievable how little money you end up spending compared to the amount of stuff you will be receiving in return. Unreal!
So what did I end up getting and pretty much planting right away you ask? Well, don't let me keep you in suspense.
we have six separate boxes spread over three layers, which will become obvious once I can get pictures inserted here. Box1 contains spinach (last years reseeded itself) as well as curled leaf lettuce and arugula. Box2 contains multiplier onions, garlic and carrots, Box 3 contains green and red peppers, box 4 contains strawberries, as well as jalapeno peppers. Box5 has 3 different kinds of tomatoes and english cucumbers and box 6 has 2 types of beans, peas and broccoli and cauliflower.
Of course 30 minutes after I planted all of this a bunny ran by. Murphies law. said bunny has of yet not discovered the delicious tender lettuce plants, but I am sure that wont be long. Good thing we got lots :D I wish youcould explain to them to wait until the plant is bigger, it is much easier to share at that point. Oh well.
Anyway, it ended up being cheaper to buy flats of 6 plants than just single plants, so I mostly did that so now we have enough to share with Alan's parents.
I am also going to be preparing an herb garden. This year we're going to actually put the herb garden in the garden bed, so this means getting rid of our enemy crawly plant number 1. At least partly so we can put the herbs in and it means reseeding the lawn part that had disappeared thanks to crawly plant #1. However, seen as though I also want to plant thyme next to the veggie garden I am going to be ripping out a whole bunch of crawly plant #2 as well.
Yesterday I planted 8 more carrot seeds next to the soaker hose. We are trying to stagger the carrots so they aren't all ready at the same time. For now we are placing sticks after the last seeds so we know where we stopped. This is until the carrots come up and we can see their leaves. As long as nobody moves the sticks it should work well I think. (thanks Alan :D)
Yesterday I noticed two of poppa's beans poking their heads above ground. Clearly the germination in paper towel works really well and I think we should do that for all future beans and perhaps try it for peas as well.
I am going to find out about the herbs I bought, see what their growing needs are and make sure they get placed in their proper spots. When I have learned more I will post the information.

More veggies on the way

I forgot to mention that I started three kentucky wonders in wet paper towels 3 days ago. They had all started germinating today so I put them in the ground along with three peas and a couple more scarlet runners. I also planted 8ish carrots in the top garden box. Carrots take a long time to grow and I figured the chance of frost we get from time to time shouldn't harm the little guys anymore at this point. Next week or in two weeks from now I'll plant another 8 etc. So, veggie season is offically starting off with beans, peas, carrots and last season's self sown spinach. I am curious to see how it will do. It looks good so far. Perfect timing because I am on my last bag of frozen spinach from last season. I like spinach in omelette's. Yum!
I am also starting a list of vegetable plants we want to buy on the market/at the garden centre. Lots and lots of lists lately that is for sure.

Sowing seeds

Today I started the first seeds for this season. Yesterday I dug out some of the empty flower pots from the garage and found some potting soil. Today I bought some herb seeds and planted them along with some seeds we still had left over from last year. I planted parsley, thyme, basil and two types of beans, the kentucky wonder , better known as Poppa's beans, scarlet runner and peas and a whole pile of green onions. I bought cinnamon basil by accident. It looks exactly like the basil we bought potted last year but I am not sure if it is the same kind. Lets hope so. Other wise we will have a whole new culinary experience when time comes to eat it.
This year we are planning to stagger our vegetables so they arent all ready at the same time. The next sowing date will be in approximately 3 weeks.
I put the planted seeds up in the guest bedroom in front of the window to make sure that our dearest kitty Isabelle wouldnt start digging up what I just tucked away. I took a picture of the nursery and will keep you updated on the progress of the little guys.